Clinical Evaluation of a Centralized In-Clinic Direct Culture and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Workflow for Canine and Feline Skin, Ear, and Urine Infections

Background/objectives

Rapid antimicrobial decision-making in small-animal practice is limited by the turnaround time (≥2 days) of conventional laboratory-based culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST). Existing point-of-care and in-clinic tests can provide faster results, but their performance often depends on user experience. This study evaluated VetBac, a hybrid workflow in which the test is conducted in the clinic, while experts centrally interpret bacterial growth on plates.